Road accident claims one life in Jorhat

Road accident claims one life in Jorhat

'Indifferent' attitude of police triggers widespread public anger

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, August 30: The treacherous Rajabari road of Jorhat has claimed yet another life after a speeding truck bearing registration number AS – 03 AC 5777 crushed a cyclist to death at around 9 pm on Saturday night.

The deceased, identified as Niranjan Deb th, was on his way back home. The public which started assembling one by one soon after the incident started shouting slogans against the Jorhat Police for failing to check the increasing number of accident cases in the Rajabari Road that connects Jorhat with Mariani.

Meanwhile, the truck that had fled the scene after the accident was later recovered by police of the Cinmora Outpost from near the Gattani Industrial area complex but the driver was missing. However, a team of Jorhat Traffic Police led by Sub Inspector Utpal Dutta acting promptly, picked up the owner Rohit Kumar from the Fancy Ali area of Jorhat town. The owner informed that the truck was being driven by Hari Kumar Singh (55) of Silchar and that it was bound for galand and was carrying food grains and other essential items. Later on Sunday, the driver surrendered before the police along with the origil copy of the galand license.

After the accident, jourlists of the print and electronic media helped contain the situation from turning violent by indulging in a one-to-one discussion with the agitated public and next of the kin after the traffic police grew helpless before the people who were demanding a solution to what they alleged was a nexus between two police officers with the truck owners at the behest of a powerful political leader. Even earlier in May, 2009 a young man of the LIC Rajabari office lost his life in a similar accident leading the public to set fire to the truck. But the Assam Police allegedly pounced on the ordiry workers of the LIC office, thrashing them black and blue, because the alleged political leader turned out to be close ally of the truck owner.

Moreover, lack of coordition was also seen among the police in controlling the situation yesterday night with the OC Pradip Borah allegedly taking no initiative to talk with the people and diffuse the situation. Instead, Pradip Borah allegedly kept a force of the Quick Response Team on standby, perhaps to unleash a reign of terror similar to the LIC incident of 2009.

People are questioning whether the Superintendent of Police Amanjeet Kaur has gone soft or some police officers have started taking advantage of the SP's polite ture?

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